Twenty White Lies
by The-Xenocide
Summary: The truth may set you free, but what they don’t mention are the little white lies we tell ourselves to stay free. Dark InoxNaruto


_**Twenty White Lies**_  
**A Xenocide Production**

**AN: No, sorry. This isn't the serious sequel to **_**The Art of Unpoken Words**_** that I promised, but rest assured, it is in the works. I've seen several 'Twenty Truths' format fics on here, and I decided to write one of my own, except mine was written with a twist, if the title doesn't give you a clue to that. **

**Enjoy and Review**

**Summary:** The truth may set you free, but what they don't mention are the little white lies we tell ourselves to stay free. Dark InoxNaruto

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1) He tells himself that he's gotten over the girl that he used to love, and that the beautiful goddess that shares his bed is the only girl that he'll ever have eyes for. He watches her sleep in their tiny apartment, breathing easily in the moonlight, and drinks her all in. He only has eyes for her.

2) She tells herself that even though the name that springs to his lips when he sleeps spooned behind her is not her own, it's nothing more than mere coincidence. It's not unusual to dream of a teammate. Just coincidence.

3) He tells himself that the only reason that he pushes the bastard so hard in sparring, eliciting fierce oaths, cuts, gashes, and the occasional broken bone is to keep a firm grip on the small flame of respect that the other has for him, not because the bastard has the girl he used to love.

4) She tries not to see too much in the small touches that they share when he thinks no one is paying attention. The brushing of fingers over a cup of tea, the playful bump of behinds on a trek down the cobbled street, and the lingering bear hugs that he sweeps her up into as often as he can. There's absolutely no reason to be jealous of her best friend, not when she can touch him where the other girl cannot.

5) She really doesn't feel anything at all when he comes into sight, and the eternal grin on his face doesn't make her heart race just a _little_ faster and harder. She's perfectly happy with the man she's loved since their Academy days, and no one else will do.

6) He has begun to notice the rather strained smile that the dobe's girl sports every time they come to visit him and his wife. The two blondes sit by side at the small table, and the idiot always has his arm around her and she smiles like god is in his heaven, and all is right with the world. But…the smile doesn't reach her eyes, and strange eyes that say one thing while their owner says another are no stranger to him. He believes it's merely stress. Or perhaps he's just reading into something that isn't there.

7) Her fingers tighten and curl into fists every time she sees the other girl hang all over her teammate. Every other girl that had tried her hand at the ANBU Captain's heart had been, in her opinion, no good whores who didn't deserve the kind man who in so many ways was like the brother she never had. It was practically her idea to set her friend up with the loudmouthed man, so why did her gut twist so fiercely and sharply whenever she saw him receive a particularly sensual kiss that looked as if it belonged in a bedroom, not a neighbor's living room floor?

8) He pretends that it's normal for him to dream of pink hair every now and then. What he won't admit is that every night does not translate to 'every now and then.'

9) He ignores the fact that when she's sprawled out beneath him, breasts pert and sweat trickling delicious trails down her sides and between her legs, jade eyes are juxtaposed over cornflower ones, and that a waterfall of blonde silk is replaced by a fan of pink satin.

10) She makes herself believe that when her avenger is moving inside of her, her legs draped over his shoulder, that the deep crimson eyes boring down into her in a fit of insatiable passion spiral with three commas, and are not blood red with vertical pupils. It is an avenger than drives into her with grunts and moans, not a primal carnivore.

11) She avoids the knowing eyes of her two teammates when she talks with them. She can't decide if she avoids them for the pity and disgust she's sure to see in them, or if they will see the truth in hers. On their part, one boy can only sit in silence and stare at the clouds while she jabbers on about inconsequential nothings, and the other can only dig aimlessly for his next snack bag in between near hysterical rants.

12) The Godaime no longer has a small smile ready for her when she reports to the hospital for her shift each day. Instead, she is crisp and blunt, almost to the point of rudeness, but she never crosses that line. Her apprentice takes it in silence, not wishing to destroy what little respect the woman has left for her, if any is left at all.

13) The last scion of the noble house is on the verge of learning the truth, but he will keep what suspicions that he has to himself. One betrayal by a brother is more than enough. Another would drive what remained of his sanity from him. So he sits quietly at home, half listening to his wife's cheerful daily reports about her work, and pushing himself all the harder in his spars with the blonde idiot. More often than not, one or the other has to visit the hospital.

14) Her father, the man once thought to be Konoha's most overprotective father, has finally accepted her current boyfriend for who he is, not what others have seen him as. He has taken the boy under his wing, and has lately taken to jokingly calling him son, much to her lover's embarrassment and pride. Her father, however, has made it abundantly clear that he wouldn't mind at all if the boy's new title became permanent.

15) Her mother, while happy for the boy and her husband, gives her a knowing look when her daughter clings desperately to her beau's arm when he regales the small family with tales from his Team 7 days. She will not say anything to her daughter, for all that she wants to. Her husband is thankfully unaware of the way the boy's eyes light up whenever he is in the midst of a particularly enthusiastic retelling.

16) He had always considered her teammates his friends, and he always has a smile on his lips for the two of them whenever his girl drags him out on an impromptu Rookie Nine outing. He tells himself that it's only the Nara's recent promotion to Head of Intelligence that keeps him cool and distant from him. The man must be run ragged by his new post, if the tell tale bags under his eyes and the blank looks that he gives the blonde are any impression. He cannot find any apparent reason for the Akimichi's lack of warmth whenever he tries to address him, but he shrugs it off with his usual bright smile and tries again.

17) They've slowly stopped meeting together on their off days, in the little café on the corner where she had proposed that the other girl go out with her teammate just once, just to give him a boost of confidence. Their conversations had become listless, cold, and full of subtle accusations that only two jealous kunoichi are capable of delivering. Their only contact these days are the times when he drags his girlfriend over to visit his two married friends, or when their carefully arranged schedules accidentally coincide at the hospital.

18) She cannot help but feel a vicious stab of victory when she remarks offhandedly to the pink haired medic that she's pregnant, during a small coffee break in the hospital lounge. The fury, sorrow, and despair that she sees in her once time friend is almost enough to eclipse the hollow feeling in her own heart. Even though she swore that she wouldn't have children before the age of 25, it was the only thing that she could see that would keep him anchored to her.

19) She almost decides not to attend the wedding, and she has the sinking feeling that her presence would not be missed in the slightest by the bride. But when he embraced her from behind, and whispered in her ear how much it would mean to him if she were there, she was powerless to resist. The feel of him pressed into her body, his warm breath tickling her lobes, and stirring her hair were enough to make her go weak in the knees. She presses herself back into him and whispers back to him that she'll be there.

20) Sasuke never tries too hard to match up the dates leading up to his son's birth. It was almost nine months to the very day since his best friend's wedding, and he keeps himself from recalling the one day that month that he had surely bed his wife. This train of thought works well to sustain him, until he sees a pair of azure eyes blinking sleepily from underneath the shawl that his son is wrapped in. His wife never says a word.


End file.
